Energy Act 2011

Energy Act 2011

2011 CHAPTER 16

Commentary on Sections

Part 1: Energy Efficiency

Chapter 5: Information about Energy Consumption, Efficiency and Tariffs

Section 74: Access to register of energy performance certificates etc: England and Wales and Section 75: Access to register of energy performance certificates: Scotland

187. Section 74 permits the Secretary of State to make regulations enabling changes to be made in respect of the disclosure of documents and information held on the Register of Certificates, Recommendation Reports and Advisory Reports by the Secretary of State. The section will enable the Secretary of State to make data relating to EPCs, DECs and ACRs more publicly available than the current regulations allow.

188. Subsection (2) enables the Secretary of State, through regulations, to restrict access to documents and data, or specified parts of such documents or data, from disclosure to a specified description of persons and to exclude documents or data from disclosure where they relate to a specified description of buildings. This subsection also allows the Secretary of State to limit the number of disclosures to persons as specified in the regulations, to specify conditions to which persons to whom disclosure is to be given are to be subject, and to impose sanctions for non-compliance with such conditions.

189. Subsection (5) makes various supplementary provision and provides that regulations to be made under this section shall be made by statutory instrument subject to, under subsection (6), the negative resolution procedure. Subsection (7) makes it clear for purposes of this section that the reference to disclosure of a document or data includes a reference to disclosure of information derived from a document or data.

190. Section 75 makes similar provision in respect of Scotland but also enables Scottish Ministers to make provision requiring a person keeping a register to disclose specified information or data.